Henry Boot’s property investment and development arm, Henry Boot Development (HBD), has formed a new joint venture aimed at delivering £1 billion of industrial and logistics (I&L) schemes in the UK over the next seven years.
Partnering with real estate investment firm Feldberg Capital, the business will be known as Origin, with HBD taking a 25 per cent stake.
The JV will be seeded with an initial portfolio of three sites from HBD’s pipeline with a combined value of £100 million.
HBD will be the development manager, receiving fees for doing so, while Felberg will act as investment manager.
Both parties have the potential to share a promote fee based on the JV’s internal rate of return subject to certain hurdle rates.
Henry Boot claimed the three initial sites have the potential to deliver approximately 450,000 sq ft of I&L space, with construction to start in H1 2025 for delivery from H2 2025.
The developments will target BREEAM ‘Excellent’ and an EPC ‘A’ rating.
The seed assets comprise:
- Spark, Walsall (phase one), 13-acre development site. GDV £53 million. Planning consent for two units totalling 270,000 sq ft.
- Inter, Welwyn Garden City, three-acre development site. GDV: £27 million. Planning consent for a 71,000 sq ft I&L scheme.
- Ark, Markham Vale, nine-acre development site. GDV: £19 million. planning consent for four units totalling 107,000 sq ft.
The partnership aims to draw on HBD’s development pipeline and acquire sites from third parties for further pre-let and speculative I&L development.
For each project, development finance will be procured from an external lender.
HBD has the right to co-invest in future projects on the same ownership split as the seed portfolio, whilst retaining the role of development manager.
Tim Roberts, CEO at Henry Boot, said: “The launch of this new industrial and logistics platform with Feldberg Capital is an important transaction for Henry Boot, allowing us to partner with a first-class international investor with the funds and ambition to invest alongside us into one of our key sectors.
“At the same time, it enables us to accelerate our own £1.3 billion industrial and logistics pipeline and in turn recycle capital more efficiently.”
Last week, Henry Boot’s land promotion and planning business, Hallam Land, sold 600 consented plots in the Midlands, taking Hallam’s 2024 plot disposals to 2,800.
The company claimed it is in a strong position now to meet its medium-term strategic target of selling 3,500 plots per annum.
It comes as revenue and profit drop for Henry Boot, in its latest half year results, with the company’s revenues fell to £106 million in the first half of this year (H12023: £179.8 million).
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